No, Oprah didn't call me, darn it. But, someone who has been a featured guest on her show did. Mr. Wally Amos, formerly of Famous Amos Cookies, called me on Monday morning to apologize personally for missing our meeting on Saturday. What a nice, classy man. He didn't make any excuses. He said he just plain forgot; he had out-of-town company and got busy with them and forgot until the afternoon that he had somewhere he was supposed to be that morning. We are going to reschedule. He said he made a comittment and he honors his commitments. Like I said, classy guy. Wonder if I can get a recipe…..
I finally called my university yesterday and just gave them their lousy $15. Who needs the hassle? Apparently, though the amorphous charge has never appeared on my account, they've put a financial hold on my activities, meaning I can't register or anything. Sheesh. Fifteen bucks, people. And I've already got all the credits I need, with the exception of this blasted 5 hour thesis, so give me a break. I'm not registering for anything, except the thesis anyway.
The point, however, is that the brief contact with the academic world left me panicking about this thesis. I have GOT to get busy on it. I have 7 pages written. I need at the very least 50. Knowing me, it will be nearly twice that. So, I've decided to give myself a deadline. I have to finish my novel by the end of July. Then, I have to work on the thesis and get at least the first two chapters drafted by the end of August. My mentor wants to use my work on the second chapter for a class he's teaching in the Fall. I've known this for months.
I suppose I need to cut myself off from the ‘net for the rest of the month. I probably won't handle that very well. It is necessary, however, so my blog will be on hold, or only populated by tiny entries, for the rest of the month. Okay, yes, tiny entries. That makes me happier. Progress reports, I suppose.
Quick progress report on my WIP: I have 174 pages. I need 280 – 300. I'm on page 83 in my revision with many pages still to be chopped. This is Debra Dixon's fault. GMC has put me in this position. I can salvage some of what I have, but there are some scenes that are completely irrelevant now. I imagine I will lose 40 pages or so of irrelevant stuff. Not really sure yet.
Aloha.